It is known to apply pinch sensors to prevent a closure panel such as a lift gate or side door from closing if a foreign obstacle or object is detected just as the panel closes. The pinch sensors come in different forms, including non-contact sensors such as those based on capacitance changes, and contact sensors which rely on a physical deformation caused by contact with a foreign object.
The contact pinch sensors are typically applied in the form of a rubber strip which is routed along and adjacent to the periphery of a vehicle door. The rubber strip embeds two wires which are separated by an air gap. When the two wires contact one another, the electrical resistance therebetween drops, and a controller connected to the two wires monitors the drop in resistance, detecting an object when the drop exceeds a predetermined threshold. The fundamental problem with such conventional pinch sensors, however, is that they have a limited activation angle typically on the order of about thirty five degrees. Thus, in the event the pinch force is applied obliquely rather than head on, the wires may not contact one another.